French MP fights for sex services for disabled

Published: 21 Mar 2013 17:04 GMT+01:00

A pioneering French MP wants to push ahead and create the country’s first sexual assistance service for severely paralysed people, living in his region. It comes after a French ethics committee rejected the idea of using "sex assistants".

The man driving the initiative rejects suggestions the services, which are currently illegal in France, will constitute a form of prostitution, insisting it will be free of charge and run by charities for the disabled using voluntary workers.

“We make sure disabled people have access to public transport and housing rights but giving them access to sexuality has never been considered,” Jérôme Guedj, the president of Essonne’s Gernal Council told Le Parisien on Thursday.

“This is not prostitution. I am opposed to the selling of one’s body. This will not be a public service of prostitutes,” he added. “We want to consider a legal and ethical framework for this complimentary service to assist disabled people.”

Guedj’s words have been greeted warmly by organisations in France that promote the rights of disabled people.

“This initiative, a first in France, is really interesting,” Pascal Ribes, vice-president of the French Association of Paralysed (APF) told Le Parisien. “There is a real denial of the sexual dimension of being a severely disabled. When a regional authority shows it is willing to go break a taboo and find an answer to this problem, it is very encouraging.

“Sexual arousal is just as much about nudity, touching and massages as it is about the act of sex itself,” Ribes added.

Although currently banned in France sexual assistance for disabled people is legal in Belgium, Hollande, Denmark and Switzerland.

Essonne, however, looks like it will have to go it alone after France’s national ethics committee recently announced it opposed the use of so-called sexual assistants for the disabled.

The National Consultative Ethics Committee (CCNE), which advises the government on health issues, said it saw too great a risk of abuse to back "professional" use of sex helpers.

"The beneficiaries are vulnerable people who are at risk of an emotional investment in the sexual assistant," the CCNE said.

"It is not possible to give sexual assistance a professional status like other activities, given the principle that the human body cannot be used for commercial purposes." It recommended that carers be trained in the sexual needs and dignity of the disabled.

The Essonne initiative is at its early stages with a vote set to take place on Monday on whether to push ahead with the project. If agreed then a working group will start examining all proposals in detail from April and will report back by the end of the year.

Your comments about this article

Who says there are no jobs in France? France's national employment agency Pôle Emploi has been ridiculed after published a job advert from a company looking for male and female porn actors, who've "dreamed about becoming stars". Beginners are welcome to apply.
READ

A worker at state-run rail operator SNCF lights a flare in the 2014 strikes. Photo: AFP

Frenchmen had more reason than normal to feel proud on Tuesday thanks to a new study, which found their manhoods were lengthier than those of every other nationality in the survey. But do our Gallic friends really have reason to gloat?
READ

Opinion: Commuter misery

Disgruntled commuters are aiming to take Paris transport chiefs to court for the delays and disruption they face on the RER. Photo: AFP

A group of disgruntled commuters are launching an unprecedented bid to sue Paris transport chiefs because they can never get to work on time. The Parisian banker leading the charge tells The Local why things have to change.
READ

Marine Le Pen and Madonna may be meeting for a 'demi' soon. Photo: AFP

France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen has changed her mind and accepted an offer from US pop icon Madonna to "sit down and have a drink". The pair famously fell out when one of Madonna's videos featured an image of Le Pen complete with a swastika on her forehead
READ